Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
I shook my head to clear it. This man was dangerous to me. This man would likely be the cause of my death, if not at his own hand. I was not to trust him.
Emotions were fickle. Talk was cheap. It was actions that spoke louder than words.
Actions like his from last night?
Without a single word uttered, I pulled myself up into a sitting position, my arm raised at an awkward angle, my elbow attempting to bend in a way that an elbow will never naturally bend in. But I sat quietly, my mind sleep addled and void of any real thoughts. I wondered whether my sisters were missing me, or were they disappointed in me, in what I’d done.
A big part of me hoped that Veronica, my closest sibling, my best friend, would know there were reasons for me lashing out in such a way.
Lashing out, I thought with a cool laugh. It sounded like something a teenager did, like taking the car without permission, or borrowing your mom’s heirloom diamond earrings and losing one. No. Lashing out was a poor phrase to use. Lashing out didn’t end in the cold, violent death of a person. Well, not normally.
I wanted to feel bad about Dino’s untimely demise, but, God help me, I couldn’t even muster a small piece of sympathy or regret. Rather, I felt warm. I felt my lungs expand to their full potential. I could finally breathe again.
My reason for doing what I did was simple.
I had lost all of my basic human rights. Desperation was my main motivator.
My melancholy thoughts left me as the bathroom door opened and Julius stepped out of the cloud of steam, wearing a pair of too-dark-to-be-navy jeans low on his hips, the button on top still undone.
Beads of water clung to his defined torso as if they had a hard time letting go and, as my eyes roamed his madly toned upper-body, I can’t say I blamed them. He caught my roaming eyes and he stilled. Affected, his stomach clenched a single moment before he took a step forward. The slow movement shook me, and my cheeks blazed in mortification as my surprised gaze met his hooded one.
Shit.
I was caught out.
My belly dipped at the thought. Embarrassment warmed me.
He kneaded one broad shoulder with a large hand, and I could tell of his discomfort, but he never let his pain show.
It had been so long since a man had touched me with gentle hands or kissed me long and slow, with feeling. My gaze came to rest on those full, unintentionally inviting lips, and I wondered how it would feel to kiss a man I wanted to kiss, not one I was forced to.
The thoughts were irrational. Stupid, even. I should not have been thinking these thoughts about anyone, let alone Julius. Especially Julius.
I told myself that it was only because he was extremely attractive, gorgeous actually, and that being in close contact with a man of Julius’s stature was bound to stir some feelings in a woman who craved affection.
It was a crush.
Once again, my eyes glanced over the sharp angles of his beautiful face and came to rest upon his full mouth. I fought a sad sigh.
A harmless crush.
A crush was all it ever could be.
The truth was, I’d never felt so attracted to a man based solely on his appearance. His dark, short, neatly trimmed hair. The day old stubble on his cheeks. The way he held himself, tall and menacing. His flawless light brown skin, high cheekbones, strong nose and manly chin. Those lips…
Oh, God, those lips. They were the stuff of pure fantasy.
His lightly veined arms. The size of his hands. I looked down to his bare feet and my gut clenched. Down to his icy-blue stare, it did it for me. He was the complete package, looks-wise. And it should’ve been the furthest thing from my mind, but I wanted him to hold me again like he did the night before. The feel of his strong, muscled arms around me evoked feelings in me I’d believed were long dead.
Shit, but that meant something to me. That was important to me. It was something bittersweet, something I wanted to explore knowing damn well it could never happen.
I clenched my legs together tightly, slightly shocked at the warmth slithering down my chest and settling in my lower stomach with a light throb.
Knowing I wasn’t immune to the male body was kind of exciting.
That meant there was life after Dino, and the fact had me no longer wanting to die, because, at the end of the long, dark tunnel, there was still hope for me. A very small sliver of hope, but hope nonetheless.
Julius walked into his closet a moment and walked out just as quick, pulling on a thin cream-colored sweater. It looked soft and warm. As he approached me, I wanted to reach out and feel the cool wool myself. I held back, clenching my fingers in reproach.